Orange, T-Mobile merge in the UK to form the largest British mobile carrier ever
By Ilinca Nita on 08 Sep 09France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom have just announced that they reached an agreement to merge their mobile operators in the UK: Orange and T-Mobile, respectively.
The new 50:50 joint-venture will become UK’s leading mobile carrier, with about 28.4 million British customers – more than O2 and Vodafone (currently the first and the second largest UK carriers).
Following the merger, UK consumers will benefit from expanded 2G and 3G network coverage, and improved network quality.
The Orange UK and T-Mobile UK brands will be “maintained separately for 18 months after completion of the transaction” – the transaction should be complete in October this year.
It’s not clear yet what name the new UK giant mobile operator will have.
Between 2010 and 2014, the T-Mo – Orange joint-venture plans to invest £600 to £800 million in integration costs.
See the video below for Orange UK’s and T-Mobile UK’s Chief Executives’ words on the new joint venture:
Via Press release
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